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Price wants coach Smith to stay aggressive

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Braves turn two 0:25

4/25/14: Jason Heyward tracks down a fly ball in right field, then makes a strong throw to Evan Gattis to tag out Joey Votto at home plate

By Mark Sheldon
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MLB.com |

ATLANTA -- Reds third-base coach Steve Smith has taken some risks during this season's first month, and not all have worked out. For the second time this road trip on Friday, a runner Smith sent home was thrown out. In the first inning, Joey Votto tried to tag up and score on a flyout to right field by Jay Bruce. The ball was not hit very deep to Jason Heyward, who has a strong arm, and Votto was easily nailed at the plate.

On Monday at Pittsburgh, Bruce was thrown out trying to score on a Devin Mesoraco single by left fielder Starling Marte in the eighth inning. Manager Bryan Price has instilled a message of aggressive baserunning since Spring Training and has no plans to curb his players, or Smith.

"When you talk about the throw by Marte and the throw by Heyward, they had to be where they were, you know what I mean?" Price said on Saturday. "Are we going to curb it? No."

Mark Sheldon is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Mark My Word, and follow him on Twitter @m_sheldon. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.